The snake demon Susur noticed it wouldn't get near the others and decided to battle Tabitha instead. First, it imbued its chaotic energy into the broadsword and covered the sword's surface in an eerie black aura. Then, Susur raised the sword above its head and slashed at the water wall that blocked him from moving forward.
A second later, a bang came from the collision, and the whole water wall suddenly turned into a puddle of water before splashing everywhere.
Alas, Tabitha seemed to have expected this, raised her hands, and spoke coldly.
"Fen!"
Almost immediately after she uttered the word, the surrounding temperatures began to drop dramatically, and the nearby ornamental plants, trees, and grasses began to freeze. The whole royal garden was covered in a layer of ice in a matter of seconds.
If not for Tabitha's control over her power, Helena, Baron Auguinare, Margery, and other elite guards would have also been turned into frozen statues by now!
Following that, a dense amount of ice elemental energy came out of Tabitha's body and formed into a two-meter tall ice wolf. It had sharp bluish teeth, a long body full of spiky ice instead of furs, and a long tail made of pure ice.
It looked more like a crystal wolf!
The crystal wolf raised its head towards the sky, let out a loud howl, and leaped into the air.
It appeared more than five meters above the ground, stepped on the thin air, and disappeared.
A moment later, the crystal wolf appeared right behind Demon Susur, opened its wide icy jaws, and tried to bite it.
Meanwhile, the cobra-headed demon Susur hissed at the crystal wolf, grabbed it with its two hands, and threw it upward.
A second later, Susur squatted down, jumped in the sky, and slashed its jet-black broadsword.
The crystal wolf's ice body was cut into two in the next second and disappeared from everyone's visions.
It all happened in three seconds, causing Abium to break into cold sweats.
He wasn't able to follow the movements at all.
But he didn't get anxious inside.
Instead, he gripped that wooden stock and prepared the crossbow to attack any moment.
Abium loaded the crossbow with a dark steel bolt and aimed at the demon.
Dark steel bolts were made of a unique dark metallic element called 'Zesnine,' a mild amount of Light Clanor alloy, normal iron, and amber copper. These weapons are usually forged in this manner to strengthen their anti-chaotic properties.
Towards the end of the chaos era, mages and warriors switched to Dark Steel weapons to combat the chaos and even succeeded in many battles against demons.
As Abium loaded the dark steel bolt, multiple runes circles inscribed on the flight groove, riser, foregrip, and barrel started to flicker intensely.
He then gripped the crossbow, adjusted the angle, and waited.
Like a crow that would defeat an owl during the daytime, he needed to pick the right time to defeat this formidable foe.
At that moment, Tabitha's voice echoed from the front.
"Impressive. Even after being affected by the planar restriction, this demon is overpowering me. Its physical strength is enough to eradicate a group of fifth-tier warriors."
"It's impossible for me to kill this creature using my spells alone. I need your help, Lucius." Tabitha said in a solemn tone and waved her hand.
A second later, a dense water-elemental fluctuation appeared around her, and soon a mysterious ripple spread in all directions.
Slowly, the ice on the grasses and trees began melting and forming into pure water. Then, the water droplets suddenly rose one by one and moved upward.
Slowly and steadily, water droplets began to float upward and formed into a small ball of water above the Royal Palace.
Although Demon Susur was startled by the unusual spell, it didn't give it much thought and shifted its attention toward Tabitha.
Letting out a hiss, the demon Susur gripped its broadsword and spurred towards Tabitha before attacking her continuously.
"BOOM!" "BOOM." "BOOM."
But whenever the eerie broadsword moved closer to Tabitha, a layer of ice shield appeared out of thin air, blocked the sword, and soon turned into small crystalline particles before disappearing.
Meanwhile, Lucius gripped his sword, formed two golden wings behind his back, and dashed forward.
While the snake demon Susur was focusing on Tabitha, he used his master-level sword aura and attacked the demon from behind.
Multiple cuts appeared on the demon's body as it tried to break the ice shield on one hand while blocking Lucius' rampage sword attacks on the other.
As the fight intensified on the ground, Abium suddenly noticed an abnormality in the sky and soon widened his eyes.
At that moment, he saw more than 10,000 gallons of water had gathered above the palace and almost covered the garden area.
Only then did he notice that the air around them felt drier.
'What is this?' Abium couldn't help but be startled deeply.
Meanwhile, Tabitha took two steps backward, curled her lips upward, and snapped her fingers.
Chains of water appeared from the monstrous ball of water, slithered around its body in mere seconds, and shackled Susur's extremities. As the demon struggled to escape the newly appeared chains, the water suddenly turned freezing and soon became ice chains.
All those water chains became icy in a blink and completely shackled the creature.
"HISSSSSS! ***** ******* ********." Demon Susur hissed as it noticed the seriousness, spoke something in the abyssal tongue, and split its tongue out multiple times.
In the meantime, Tabitha signaled Lucious to back away and turned her gaze towards Abium.
"It's your job now."
"Yes, My Lady."
Nodding, Abium moved his finger towards the trigger and pressed the left-side runic switch.
The next instant, a dense amount of lightning-elemental energy came from the crossbow's stock region, moved towards the rise, and gathered at the bolt's tip.
Abium then curled his lips upward, aimed the crossbow at the demon's neck region, and pulled the trigger.
As he pulled the trigger, a dark lightning stream formed around the bolt's tip.
In an instant, the dark bolt and the strange lightning streak left the crossbow at an incredible speed and traveled towards the demon.
In an instant, the dark steel bolt flew before the demon Susur's neck and penetrated deep inside before releasing a streak of eerie dark lightning.
"HISS!" A loud hissing sound echoed as the dark lighting invaded Susur's body and paralyzed him on the spot.
Not only that, but the dark bolt disrupted the chaotic core inside its body and caused the demon to become dizzy.
A smile appeared on Tabitha's face as she noticed a drastic amount of chaotic energies were dispersing away from the demon's body.
"Excellent. Both of you, attack with everything you got. I think this demon will be paralyzed for a minute or two. Use this opportunity properly." Tabitha said hurriedly, backed away a few steps, and closed her eyes to focus her full attention on maintaining the spell.
In the meantime, Abium quietly turned his gaze towards the faraway frozen tree, nodded his head at Lily, and dashed forward towards Susur like a bolt of lightning.
Although he didn't say a single word, Lily, hiding behind the tree trunk, heard Abium's words in her head.
'Lily, you have one minute to do your job. Don't let the red-robed lady notice you.'
'Do I even have a choice now?' Lily grumbled inwardly, used her spatial-elemental energy to conceal her body, and stealthily ran towards the shackled demon.
In the meantime, Abium arrived before the cobra-headed demon, unsheathed his long sword, and moved towards its right side.
After that, he raised his sword above his head, imbued more mana into it, and covered the sword's surface with a reddish aura.
Then, he took a deep breath and slashed at one of its right hands with full force. But to his shock, Abium noticed that his sword only managed to cut the outer skin and was surprised!
"Its skin is too hard!" He felt like his sword was cutting through metal instead of flesh.
'If you have built a first-tier spell model in your mind, you would have an easy job now.' Azolla spoke in his mind.
'Do you have any suggestions?' He asked, gathering all his advanced sword aura towards the tip of his sword.
Then, he once again slashed his sword.
But unlike before, a deep cut appeared on one of the demon's arms.
Alas, the flesh started to regenerate at an incredible speed and healed the wounded area.
'It's useless, lad. In comparison to this creature, you are like an ant. Your attack can prickle it but won't do much damage at all.' Her words made Abium's face flush.
'That much difference in strength?' After he drank Tabitha's potion, his body had been boosted twofold, and he felt like he had a chance against this demon.
'In the end, I needed master-level aura or grandmaster-level aura to kill it, huh?' A bitter look appeared on his face.
As for his magic spells? They were also nothing in front of this demonic creature.
He now understood the clear difference in strength between him and the demon.
When he was deep in thought, he saw a blonde-haired figure move from his left side and immediately hide behind a nearby bush.
Her actions resembled those of a cat.
'Lily?' Without delay, he cast the [Mirage] spell and manipulated the surrounding elements to make her invisible to others' eyes.
Due to the current scenario, even Tabitha did not notice her arrival and remained in the same position.
'I cast a [Mirage] spell and made you invisible to others' eyes. Start your work now, Lily.' He spoke to her telepathically and turned his attention toward the demon.